This document summarizes 8 major biomes: tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, scrub forest, grasslands, desert, tropical rain forest, and temperate rain forest. It describes the characteristic climate, vegetation, and animals of each biome. Key factors like temperature, precipitation, and soil composition determine the distribution and productivity of different biomes around the world.
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This document summarizes 8 major biomes: tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, scrub forest, grasslands, desert, tropical rain forest, and temperate rain forest. It describes the characteristic climate, vegetation, and animals of each biome. Key factors like temperature, precipitation, and soil composition determine the distribution and productivity of different biomes around the world.
This document summarizes 8 major biomes: tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, scrub forest, grasslands, desert, tropical rain forest, and temperate rain forest. It describes the characteristic climate, vegetation, and animals of each biome. Key factors like temperature, precipitation, and soil composition determine the distribution and productivity of different biomes around the world.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
This document summarizes 8 major biomes: tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, scrub forest, grasslands, desert, tropical rain forest, and temperate rain forest. It describes the characteristic climate, vegetation, and animals of each biome. Key factors like temperature, precipitation, and soil composition determine the distribution and productivity of different biomes around the world.
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Biomes "Spanish moss") are epiphytes.
A biome is a large, distinctive complex of plant
communities created and maintained by climate. The lushness of the tropical rain forest suggests a high net productivity, but this is illusory. Many of A study published in 1999 concluded that there are 150 different "ecoregions" in North America the frequent attempts to use the tropical rain forest for conventional crops have been alone. But I shall cast my lot with the "lumpers" rather than the "splitters" and lump these into 8 disappointing. Two problems: biomes: • The high rainfall leaches soil minerals • tundra below the reach of plant roots. • The warmth and moisture cause rapid • taiga decay so little humus is added to the soil. • temperate deciduous forest The tropical rain forest exceeds all the other • scrub forest (called chaparral in California) biomes in the diversity of its animals as well as • grassland plants. Most of the animals — mammals and • desert reptiles, as well as birds and insects — live in the • tropical rain forest trees. • temperate rain forest The closest thing to a tropical rain forest in the The figure shows the distribution of these 8 continental United States are the little wooded biomes around the world. "islands" found scattered through the Everglades A number of climatic factors interact in the in the southern tip of Florida. Their existence creation and maintenance of a biome. Where depends on the fact that it never freezes, and precipitation is moderately abundant (40 inches they often escape the fires that periodically or more per year), and distributed fairly evenly sweep the Everglades. throughout the year, the major determinant is Temperate Deciduous Forest temperature. It is not simply a matter of This biome occupies the eastern half of the average temperature, but includes such limiting United States and a large portion of Europe. It is factors as: characterized by: • whether it ever freezes; • hardwood trees (e.g., beech, maple, oak, • length of the growing season hickory) which If there is ample rainfall, we find 4 characteristic • are deciduous; that is, shed their leaves in biomes as we proceed from the tropics (high the autumn. temperatures) to the extreme latitudes (low • The number of different species is far temperatures). In order, they are: more limited than in the jungle. • tropical rain forest or jungle • Large stands dominated by a single • temperate deciduous forest species are common. • taiga • Deer, raccoons, and salamanders are • tundra characteristic inhabitants. Tropical Rain Forest • During the growing season, this biome can In the Western Hemisphere, the tropical rain be quite productive in both natural and forest reaches its fullest development in the agricultural ecosystems. jungles of Central and South America. • The trees are very tall and of a great Taiga variety of species. The taiga is named after the biome in Russia. • One rarely finds two trees of the same • It is a land dominated by conifers, species growing close to one another. especially spruces and firs. • The vegetation is so dense that little light • It is dotted with lakes, bogs, and marshes. reaches the forest floor. • It is populated by an even more limited • Most of the plants are evergreen, not variety of plants and animals than is the deciduous. temperate deciduous forest. • The branches of the trees are festooned • In North America, the moose is such a with vines and epiphytes typical member that it has led to the Epiphytes are plants that live perched on name: "spruce-moose" biome. sturdier plants. They do not take • Before the long, snowy winter sets in, nourishment from their host as parasitic many of the mammals hibernate, and plants do. Because their roots do not reach many of the birds migrate south. the ground, they depend on the air to bring • Although the long days of summer permit them moisture and inorganic nutrients. plants to grow luxuriantly, net productivity Many orchids and many bromeliads is low. (members of the pineapple family like Tundra At extreme latitudes, the trees of the taiga Grasslands are also known as prairie or plains. become stunted by the harshness of the subarctic The annual precipitation in the grasslands climate. Finally, they disappear leaving a land of averages 20 in./year. A large proportion of this bogs and lakes. falls as rain early in the growing season. This • The climate is so cold in winter that even promotes a vigorous growth of perennial grasses the long days of summer are unable to and herbs, but — except along river valleys — is thaw the permafrost beneath the surface barely adequate for the growth of forests. layers of soil. The photo shows grassland in the Badlands • Sphagnum moss, a wide variety of lichens, National Monument in South Dakota. and some grasses and fast-growing Fire is probably the factor that tips the balance annuals dominate the landscape during from forest to grasslands. Fires — set by lightning the short growing season. and by humans — regularly swept the plains in • Caribou feed on this growth as do vast earlier times. Thanks to their underground stems numbers of insects. and buds, perennial grasses and herbs are not harmed by fires that destroy most shrubs and • Swarms of migrating birds, especially trees. waterfowl, invade the tundra in the The abundance of grass for food, coupled with summer to raise their young, feeding the lack of shelter from predators, produces them on a large variety of aquatic similar animal populations in grasslands invertebrates and vertebrates. throughout the world. The dominant vertebrates • As the brief arctic summer draws to a are swiftly-moving, herbivorous ungulates. In close, the birds fly south, and North America, bison and antelope were • all but a few of the permanent residents, conspicuous members of the grassland fauna in one way or another, prepare themselves before the coming of white settlers. to spend the winter in a dormant state. Now the level grasslands supply corn, wheat, and Biomes established by altitude other grains, and the hillier areas support Temperature is the major influence on the biomes domesticated ungulates: cattle and sheep. discussed above. Because temperatures decline When cultivated carefully, the grassland biome is with altitude as well as latitude, similar biomes capable of high net productivity. A major reason: exist on mountains even when they are at low rainfall in this biome never leaches soil minerals latitudes. As a rule of thumb, a climb of 1000 feet below the reach of the roots of crop plants. is equivalent in changed flora and fauna to a trip Desert northward of some 600 miles. Annual rainfall in the desert is less than 10 in. The photo is of alpine tundra at 12,000 feet in the and, in some years, may be zero. Because of the Rocky Mountains. extreme dryness of the desert, its colonization is Biomes established by rainfall limited to The other major biomes are controlled not so • plants such as cacti, sagebrush, and much by temperature but by the amount and mesquite that have a number of seasonal distribution of rainfall. adaptations that conserve water over long The prevailing winds in the western half of North periods; America blow in from the Pacific laden with • fast-growing annuals whose seeds can moisture. Each time this air rises up from the germinate, develop to maturity, flower, western slopes of, successively, the Coast and produce a new crop of seeds all within Ranges, the Sierras and Cascades, and finally the a few weeks following a rare, soaking rain. Rockies, it expands and cools. Its moisture The photo shows the desert in the Anza-Borego condenses to rain or snow, which drenches the park in southern California. mountain slopes beneath. When the air reaches Many of the animals in the desert (mammals, the eastern slopes, it is relatively dry, and much lizards and snakes, insects, and even some birds) less precipitation falls. How much falls and when are adapted for burrowing to escape the determine whether the biome will be scorching heat of the desert sun. Many of them • temperate rain forest limit their forays for food to the night. • grassland The net productivity of the desert is low. High • desert or productivity can sometimes be achieved with • chaparral irrigation, but these gains are often only Temperate Rain Forest temporary. The high rates of evaporation cause The temperate rain forest combines high annual minerals to accumulate near the surface and rainfall with a temperate climate. The Olympic soon their concentration may reach levels toxic to Peninsular in North America is a good example. plants. An annual rainfall of as much as 150 inches Chaparral produces a lush forest of conifers. The annual rainfall in the chaparral biome may Grasslands reach 20–30 in., but in contrast to the grasslands, almost all of this falls in winter. Summers are very warms only the surface of the water. Deep down, dry and all the plants — trees, shrubs, and oceans everywhere are cold and dark. grasses — are more or less dormant then. PLANTS: Over 1 million species of plants and The chaparral is found in California. (The photo animals have been discovered in the oceans, and shows the chaparral-clad foothills of the Sierra scientists say there may be as many as 9 million Nevada in California.) Similar biomes (with other species we haven't found yet. One reason the names, such as scrub forest, are found around ocean is very important is because of all the much of the Mediterranean Sea and along the algae. If it weren't for marine algae we would not southern coast of Australia. be able to breathe! The trees in the chaparral are mostly oaks, both Through photosynthesis, marine plants and algae deciduous and evergreen. Scrub oaks and shrubs provide much of the worlds oxygen supply and like manzanita and the California lilac (not a take in huge amounts of carbon dioxide. This relative of the eastern lilac) form dense, absorption of carbon dioxide may be a useful tool evergreen thickets. All of these plants are in reducing the severity of climate change. One adapted to drought by such mechanisms as type of marine algae is kelp. Kelp is important waxy, waterproof coatings on their leaves. because it provides shelter and food for a lot of The chaparral has many plants brought to it from sea creatures. Kelp is also used by humans for similar biomes elsewhere. Vineyards, olives, and many products, including toothpaste and ice figs flourish just as they do in their native cream. Kelp also serves as a buffer by absorbing Mediterranean biome. So, too, do eucalyptus energy from waves before the waves hit the trees transplanted from the equivalent biome in shoreline, protecting many of the sandy beaches Australia. along the California coast. Another important Marine Biome marine plant is phytoplankton. These are tiny LOCATION: The marine biome is the biggest plants that serve as food to many of the ocean biome in the world! It covers about 70% of the creatures from the smallest of fish to large earth. It includes five main oceans: the Pacific, whales. Some scientists estimate that Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern; as well as phytoplankton provide the earth with almost half many smaller Gulfs and Bays. Marine regions are of its oxygen! Marine plants live in the euphotic usually very salty! There is about one cup of salt zone of the ocean because they need energy per gallon of water in the ocean. The ocean is from the sun for photosynthesis. divided up into three vertical zones. The top layer ANIMALS: The Earth's oceans are home to most of is called the euphotic zone, and it is there area of the planet’s biodiversity. Here we can find the ocean where light can penetrate. The next mollusks, fish, whales, crustaceans, bacteria, layer is the disphotic zone. This area is too deep fungi, sea anemones and many other animals. for lots of light to reach. Instead, the light here Animals have to deal with unique living situations looks like our twilight on land. The deepest part of in all zones of the ocean. The ocean is a salty the ocean is called the aphotic zone, or deep sea. place that is often cold. Many animals have The water here is awfully cold, completely dark, special adaptations to handle this difficult and low in nutritional content. The deep sea environment. Most marine mammals have comprises 80% of all the habitats on earth, which blubber to survive in the cold water, but sea makes it the largest habitat on the planet. The otters are unique because they don’t have deepest point in the ocean, the Mariana Trench is blubber. Instead, they have fur more dense than deeper than Mt. Everest is tall! The Mariana any other mammal, with up to one million hairs Trench is about 36,200 feet deep. per square inch. Most people have ten times less WEATHER: Climate does not have much affect on than that on their heads! The ocean can also the marine biome, but the marine biome largely support very large life forms. The blue whale is affects our terrestrial climate! It provides rain for the biggest animal on earth. It can be over 100 crops through evaporation, wind to help circulate feet long. Blue whales are so large that a small air, and affects coastal temperatures. The ocean person could crawl through their main arteries, is a large influence on whether the weather may and 20 people could stand on their tongue! be sunny or cloudy, especially here in Santa Animals in the deep sea also live in a tough Barbara because the ocean is right out our back environment. One creature, the anglerfish, deals door! with the darkness by attracting its prey with a The constant motion of the ocean results in lure lit up by light producing bacteria. When the currents and waves that may either be warm or prey is drawn to the lure, the anglerfish captures cold depending on the weather and temperature it with its big mouth for a tasty meal. of that area. Temperatures in the ocean range PEOPLE AND THIS BIOME: Do you like seafood? from just around freezing at the pole and in the How about snorkeling or surfing? People deep waters, to tropical clear waters that are as everywhere heavily use the ocean for food, warm as a bathtub. The average temperature of medicines, oil, other resources, and recreation. all oceans is about 39°F. Heat from the sun Demand for resources from the ocean is damaging ecosystems and depleting these been used to prevent further destruction of the resources. Around the world, unsustainable ocean biomes. fishing practices, including the poisoning and By educating people about the consequences of dynamiting of coral reefs, catching unwanted fish, our actions, we can all gain a better dragging nets on the sea floor, overfishing understanding of how to preserve the Earth's popular species, and fishing in critical natural biomes. The areas that have been reproductive areas are making the problem destroyed the most will never regain their original worse. Pollution is also harming the marine forms, but conservation will help to keep them ecosystem. Pollutants, like fertilizers and from getting worse. household products put down the drain make The tundra biome their way through streams and rivers into Tundra is the coldest of all the biomes. Tundra estuaries, and eventually to the ocean where comes from the Finnish word tunturi, meaning they badly disrupt the ecosystem and can cause treeless plain. It is noted for its frost-molded harm to sea life. Oil spills are also a large source landscapes, extremely low temperatures, little of pollution in the oceans. Many organizations precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing and people are currently trying to help protect seasons. Dead organic material functions as a and clean our oceans. nutrient pool. The two major nutrients are There are many simple things that you can do to nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is created by help protect the ocean. Recycling, and making biological fixation, and phosphorus is created by sure that chemicals don’t go down your precipitation. household drains is an easy way to start. Also, cut Characteristics of tundra include: all of your 6 pack rings before you throw them Extremely cold climate away. This will keep sea creatures from getting Low biotic diversity caught in the plastic rings. Buy seafood that is Simple vegetation structure sustainably harvested to make sure that more Limitation of drainage sea creatures don’t get hurt by fishing. Lastly, Short season of growth and reproduction learn more about the ocean, with knowledge you Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic will be able to help save our threatened oceans. material The freshwater and marine biomes are Large population oscillations probably the most important of all the biomes. Tundra is separated into two types: Their medium, water, is a major natural resource. -Arctic tundra Water is the basis of life, it supports life, and -Alpine tundra countless species live in it for all or part of their Arctic tundra lives. Freshwater biomes supply us with our Arctic tundra is located in the northern drinking water and water for crop irrigation. The hemisphere, encircling the north pole and world's oceans have an even greater effect on extending south to the coniferous forests of the global climate than forests do. Water has a high taiga. The arctic is known for its cold, desert-like capacity for heat, and because the Earth is conditions. The growing season ranges from 50 to mostly covered with water, the temperature of 60 days. The average winter temperature is -34° the atmosphere is kept fairly constant and able to C (-30° F), but the average summer temperature support life. In addition to this climate-buffering is 3-12° C (37-54° F) which enables this biome to capacity, the oceans contain several billion sustain life. Rainfall may vary in different regions photosynthetic plankton which account for most of the arctic. Yearly precipitation, including of the photosynthesis occuring on Earth. Without melting snow, is 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches). Soil these, there might not be enough oxygen to is formed slowly. A layer of permanently frozen support such a large world population and subsoil called permafrost exists, consisting mostly complex animal life. of gravel and finer material. When water Freshwater biomes have suffered mainly from saturates the upper surface, bogs and ponds may pollution. Runoff containing fertilizer and other form, providing moisture for plants. There are no wastes and industrial dumpings enter into rivers, deep root systems in the vegetation of the arctic ponds, and lakes and tend to promote abnormally tundra, however, there are still a wide variety of rapid algae growth. When these algae die, dead plants that are able to resist the cold climate. organic matter accumulates in the water. This There are about 1,700 kinds of plants in the arctic makes the water unusable and it kills many of the and subarctic, and these include: organisms living in the habitat. Stricter laws have -low shrubs, sedges, reindeer mosses, liverworts, helped to slow down this thoughtless pollution. and grasses Overfishing and pollution have threatened to -400 varieties of flowers make oceans into ecological disaster areas. -crustose and foliose lichen Industrial pollutants that are dumped upstream of All of the plants are adapted to sweeping estuaries have rendered many marine habitats winds and disturbances of the soil. Plants are unsuitable for life. Again, tighter regulations have short and group together to resist the cold temperatures and are protected by the snow in the form of occasional fires or cold weather, during the winter. They can carry out and sudden, infrequent, but intense rains that photosynthesis at low temperatures and low light cause flooding. intensities. The growing seasons are short and There are relatively few large mammals in most plants reproduce by budding and division deserts because most are not capable of storing rather than sexually by flowering. The fauna in sufficient water and withstanding the heat. the arctic is also diverse: Deserts often provide little shelter from the sun Herbivorous mammals: lemmings, voles, caribou, for large animals. The dominant animals of warm arctic hares and squirrels deserts are nonmammalian vertebrates, such as Carnivorous mammals: arctic foxes, wolves, and reptiles. Mammals are usually small, like the polar bears kangaroo mice of North American deserts. Migratory birds: ravens, snow buntings, falcons, Desert biomes can be classified according to loons, ravens, sandpipers, terns, snow birds, and several characteristics. various species of gulls There are four major types of deserts: Insects: mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers, Hot and dry blackflies and arctic bumble bees Semiarid Fish: cod, flatfish, salmon, and trout Coastal Animals are adapted to handle long, cold Cold winters and to breed and raise young quickly in the summer. Animals such as mammals and birds Hot and dry desert also have additional insulation from fat. Many The four major North American deserts of this animals hibernate during the winter because food type are the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mojave and is not abundant. Another alternative is to migrate Great Basin. Others outside the U.S. include the south in the winter, like birds do. Reptiles and Southern Asian realm, Neotropical (South and amphibians are few or absent because of the Central America), Ethiopian (Africa) and extremely cold temperatures. Because of Australian. constant immigration and emigration, the population continually oscillates. The seasons are generally warm throughout the Alpine tundra year and very hot in the summer. The winters Alpine tundra is located on mountains usually bring little rainfall. throughout the world at high altitude where trees cannot grow. The growing season is Temperatures exhibit daily extremes because the approximately 180 days. The nighttime atmosphere contains little humidity to block the temperature is usually below freezing. Unlike the Sun's rays. Desert surfaces receive a little more arctic tundra, the soil in the alpine is well drained. than twice the solar radiation received by humid The plants are very similar to those of the arctic regions and lose almost twice as much heat at ones and include: night. Many mean annual temperatures range -tussock grasses, dwarf trees, small-leafed from 20-25° C. The extreme maximum ranges shrubs, and heaths from 43.5-49° C. Minimum temperatures Animals living in the alpine tundra are also well sometimes drop to -18° C. adapted: Mammals: pikas, marmots, mountain goats, Rainfall is usually very low and/or concentrated in sheep, elk short bursts between long rainless periods. Birds: grouselike birds Evaporation rates regularly exceed rainfall rates. Insects: springtails, beetles, grasshoppers, Sometimes rain starts falling and evaporates butterflies before reaching the ground. Rainfall is lowest on The desert biome the Atacama Desert of Chile, where it averages Deserts cover about one fifth of the less than 1.5 cm. Some years are even rainless. Earth's surface and occur where rainfall is less Inland Sahara also receives less than 1.5 cm a than 50 cm/year. Although most deserts, such as year. Rainfall in American deserts is higher — the Sahara of North Africa and the deserts of the almost 28 cm a year. southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Australia, occur at low latitudes, another kind of desert, cold Soils are course-textured, shallow, rocky or deserts, occur in the basin and range area of gravely with good drainage and have no Utah and Nevada and in parts of western Asia. subsurface water. They are coarse because there Most deserts have a considerable amount of is less chemical weathering. The finer dust and specialized vegetation, as well as specialized sand particles are blown elsewhere, leaving vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Soils often heavier pieces behind. have abundant nutrients because they need only water to become very productive and have little Canopy in most deserts is very rare. Plants are or no organic matter. Disturbances are common mainly ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees. Leaves are "replete" (fully supported with silvery or glossy leaves, allowing them to reflect nutrients) with water-conserving characteristics. more radiant energy. These plants often have an They tend to be small, thick and covered with a unfavorable odor or taste. Semiarid plants thick cuticle (outer layer). In the cacti, the leaves include: Creosote bush, bur sage (Franseria are much-reduced (to spines) and photosynthetic dumosa or F. deltoidea), white thorn, cat claw, activity is restricted to the stems. Some plants mesquite, brittle bushes (Encelia farinosa), open their stomata (microscopic openings in the lyciums, and jujube. epidermis of leaves that allow for gas exchange) only at night when evaporation rates are lowest. During the day, insects move around twigs to These plants include: yuccas, ocotillo, turpentine stay on the shady side; jack rabbits follow the bush, prickly pears, false mesquite, sotol, moving shadow of a cactus or shrub. Naturally, ephedras, agaves and brittlebush. many animals find protection in underground burrows where they are insulated from both heat The animals include small nocturnal (active at and aridity. These animals include mammals such night) carnivores. The dominant animals are as the kangaroo rats, rabbits, and skunks; insects burrowers and kangaroo rats. There are also like grasshoppers and ants; reptiles are insects, arachnids, reptiles and birds. The animals represented by lizards and snakes; and birds such stay inactive in protected hideaways during the as burrowing owls and the California thrasher. hot day and come out to forage at dusk, dawn or at night, when the desert is cooler. Coastal desert Semiarid desert These deserts occur in moderately cool to warm The major deserts of this type include the areas such as the Nearctic and Neotropical realm. sagebrush of Utah, Montana and Great Basin. A good example is the Atacama of Chile. They also include the Nearctic realm (North America, Newfoundland, Greenland, Russia, The cool winters of coastal deserts are followed Europe and northern Asia). by moderately long, warm summers. The average summer temperature ranges from 13-24° C; The summers are moderately long and dry, and winter temperatures are 5° C or below. The like hot deserts, the winters normally bring low maximum annual temperature is about 35° C and concentrations of rainfall. Summer temperatures the minimum is about -4° C. In Chile, the usually average between 21-27° C. It normally temperature ranges from -2 to 5° C in July and does not go above 38° C and evening 21-25° C in January. temperatures are cool, at around 10° C. Cool nights help both plants and animals by reducing The average rainfall measures 8-13 cm in many moisture loss from transpiration, sweating and areas. The maximum annual precipitation over a breathing. Furthermore, condensation of dew long period of years has been 37 cm with a caused by night cooling may equal or exceed the minimum of 5 cm. rainfall received by some deserts. As in the hot desert, rainfall is often very low and/or The soil is fine-textured with a moderate salt concentrated. The average rainfall ranges from 2- content. It is fairly porous with good drainage. 4 cm annually. Some plants have extensive root systems close to the surface where they can take advantage of The soil can range from sandy and fine-textured any rain showers. All of the plants with thick and to loose rock fragments, gravel or sand. It has a fleshy leaves or stems can take in large fairly low salt concentration, compared to deserts quantities of water when it is available and store which receive a lot of rain (acquiring higher salt it for future use. In some plants, the surfaces are concentrations as a result). In areas such as corrugated with longitudinal ridges and grooves. mountain slopes, the soil is shallow, rocky or When water is available, the stem swells so that gravely with good drainage. In the upper bajada the grooves are shallow and the ridges far apart. (lower slopes) they are coarse-textured, rocky, As the water is used, the stem shrinks so that the well-drained and partly "laid by rock bench." In grooves are deep and ridges close together. The the lower bajada (bottom land) the soil is sandy plants living in this type of desert include the salt and fine-textured, often with "caliche hardpan." In bush, buckwheat bush, black bush, rice grass, each case there is no subsurface water. little leaf horsebrush, black sage, and chrysothamnus. The spiny nature of many plants in semiarid deserts provides protection in a hazardous Some animals have specialized adaptations for environment. The large numbers of spines shade dealing with the desert heat and lack of water. the surface enough to significantly reduce Some toads seal themselves in burrows with transpiration. The same may be true of the hairs gelatinous secretions and remain inactive for on the woolly desert plants. Many plants have eight or nine months until a heavy rain occurs. Amphibians that pass through larval stages have accelerated life cycles, which improves their Ponds and lakes chances of reaching maturity before the waters These regions range in size from just a few evaporate. Some insects lay eggs that remain square meters to thousands of square kilometers. dormant until the environmental conditions are Scattered throughout the earth, several are suitable for hatching. The fairy shrimps also lay remnants from the Pleistocene glaciation. Many dormant eggs. Other animals include: insects, ponds are seasonal, lasting just a couple of mammals (coyote and badger), amphibians months (such as sessile pools) while lakes may (toads), birds (great horned owl, golden eagle and exist for hundreds of years or more. Ponds and the bald eagle), and reptiles (lizards and snakes). lakes may have limited species diversity since they are often isolated from one another and Cold desert from other water sources like rivers and oceans. These deserts are characterized by cold winters Lakes and ponds are divided into three different with snowfall and high overall rainfall throughout “zones” which are usually determined by depth the winter and occasionally over the summer. and distance from the shoreline. They occur in the Antarctic, Greenland and the Nearctic realm. They have short, moist, and The topmost zone near the shore of a lake or moderately warm summers with fairly long, cold pond is the littoral zone. This zone is the warmest winters. The mean winter temperature is between since it is shallow and can absorb more of the -2 to 4° C and the mean summer temperature is Sun's heat. It sustains a fairly diverse community, between 21-26° C. which can include several species of algae (like diatoms), rooted and floating aquatic plants, The winters receive quite a bit of snow. The mean grazing snails, clams, insects, crustaceans, fishes, annual precipitation ranges from 15-26 cm. and amphibians. In the case of the insects, such Annual precipitation has reached a maximum of as dragonflies and midges, only the egg and 46 cm and a minimum of 9 cm. The heaviest larvae stages are found in this zone. The rainfall of the spring is usually in April or May. In vegetation and animals living in the littoral zone some areas, rainfall can be heavy in autumn. The are food for other creatures such as turtles, soil is heavy, silty, and salty. It contains alluvial snakes, and ducks. fans where soil is relatively porous and drainage is good so that most of the salt has been leached The near-surface open water surrounded by the out. littoral zone is the limnetic zone. The limnetic zone is well-lighted (like the littoral zone) and is The plants are widely scattered. In areas of dominated by plankton, both phytoplankton and shadscale, about 10 percent of the ground is zooplankton. Plankton are small organisms that covered, but in some areas of sagebush it play a crucial role in the food chain. Without approaches 85 percent. Plant heights vary aquatic plankton, there would be few living between 15 cm and 122 cm. The main plants are organisms in the world, and certainly no humans. deciduous, most having spiny leaves. Widely A variety of freshwater fish also occupy this zone. distributed animals are jack rabbits, kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice, pocket mice, grasshopper Plankton have short life spans — when they die, mice, and antelope ground squirrels. In areas like they fall into the deep-water part of the Utah, population density of these animals can lake/pond, the profundal zone. This zone is much range from 14-41 individuals per hectare. All colder and denser than the other two. Little light except the jack rabbits are burrowers. The penetrates all the way through the limnetic zone burrowing habit also applies to carnivores like the into the profundal zone. The fauna are badger, kit fox, and coyote. Several lizards do heterotrophs, meaning that they eat dead some burrowing and moving of soil. Deer are organisms and use oxygen for cellular respiration. found only in the winter. Temperature varies in ponds and lakes seasonally. The freshwater biome During the summer, the temperature can range from 4° C near the bottom to 22° C at the top. Freshwater is defined as having a low salt During the winter, the temperature at the bottom concentration — usually less than 1%. Plants and can be 4° C while the top is 0° C (ice). In between animals in freshwater regions are adjusted to the the two layers, there is a narrow zone called the low salt content and would not be able to survive thermocline where the temperature of the water in areas of high salt concentration (i.e., ocean). changes rapidly. During the spring and fall There are different types of freshwater regions: seasons, there is a mixing of the top and bottom Ponds and lakes layers, usually due to winds, which results in a Streams and rivers uniform water temperature of around 4° C. This Wetlands mixing also circulates oxygen throughout the lake. Of course there are many lakes and ponds near the top of the world, just below the tundra that do not freeze during the winter, thus the top biome. The winters in the taiga are very cold with layer would be a little warmer. only snowfall. The summers are warm, rainy, and humid. A lot of coniferous trees grow in the taiga. Streams and rivers The taiga is also known as the boreal forest. Did These are bodies of flowing water moving in one you know that Boreal was the Greek goddess of direction. Streams and rivers can be found the North Wind? everywhere — they get their starts at headwaters, which may be springs, snowmelt or The taiga doesn't have as many plant and animal even lakes, and then travel all the way to their species as the tropical or the deciduous forest mouths, usually another water channel or the biomes. It does have millions of insects in the ocean. The characteristics of a river or stream summertime. Birds migrate there every year to change during the journey from the source to the nest and feed. mouth. The temperature is cooler at the source than it is at the mouth. The water is also clearer, Here is some information about the temperatures has higher oxygen levels, and freshwater fish and weather in the taiga. The average such as trout and heterotrophs can be found temperature is below freezing for six months out there. Towards the middle part of the of the year. The winter temperature range is -54 stream/river, the width increases, as does species to -1° C (-65 to 30° F). The winters, as you can diversity — numerous aquatic green plants and see, are really cold, with lots of snow. algae can be found. Toward the mouth of the river/stream, the water becomes murky from all Temperature range in the summer gets as low as the sediments that it has picked up upstream, -7° C (20° F). The high in summer can be 21° C decreasing the amount of light that can penetrate (70° F). The summers are mostly warm, rainy and through the water. Since there is less light, there humid. They are also very short with about 50 to is less diversity of flora, and because of the lower 100 frost free days. The total precipitation in a oxygen levels, fish that require less oxygen, such year is 30 - 85 cm (12 - 33 in) . The forms the as catfish and carp, can be found. precipitation comes in are rain, snow and dew. Most of the precipitation in the taiga falls as rain Wetlands in the summer. Wetlands are areas of standing water that support aquatic plants. Marshes, swamps, and The main seasons in the taiga are winter and bogs are all considered wetlands. Plant species summer. The spring and autumn are so short, you adapted to the very moist and humid conditions hardly know they exist. It is either hot and humid are called hydrophytes. These include pond lilies, or very cold in the taiga. cattails, sedges, tamarack, and black spruce. Marsh flora also include such species as cypress There are not a lot of species of plants in the and gum. Wetlands have the highest species taiga because of the harsh conditions. Not many diversity of all ecosystems. Many species of plants can survive the extreme cold of the taiga amphibians, reptiles, birds (such as ducks and winter. There are some lichens and mosses, but waders), and furbearers can be found in the most plants are coniferous trees like pine, white wetlands. Wetlands are not considered freshwater spruce, hemlock and douglas fir. ecosystems as there are some, such as salt marshes, that have high salt concentrations — Coniferous trees are also known as evergreens. these support different species of animals, such They have long, thin waxy needles. The wax as shrimp, shellfish, and various grasses. gives them some protection from freezing temperatures and from drying out. Evergreens Taiga don't loose their leaves in the winter like deciduous trees. They keep their needles all year The taiga is the biome of the needleleaf forest. long. This is so they can start photosynthesis as Living in the taiga is cold and lonely. Coldness soon as the weather gets warm. The dark color of and food shortages make things very difficult, evergreen needles allows them to absorb heat mostly in the winter. Some of the animals in the from the sun and also helps them start taiga hibernate in the winter, some fly south if photosynthesis early. they can, while some just cooperate with the environment, which is very difficult. (Dillon Evergreens in the taiga tend to be thin and grow Bartkus) close together. This gives them protection from the cold and wind. Evergreens also are usually Taiga is the Russian word for forest and is the shaped like an upside down cone to protects the largest biome in the world. It stretches over branches from breaking under the weight of all Eurasia and North America. The taiga is located that snow. The snow slides right off the slanted The taiga climate has an average annual rainfall branches. of 12 - 33 inches (30 - 84 cm). Most of it falls in the summer as rain. The taiga is susceptible to many wildfires. Trees have adapted by growing thick bark. The fires will The corresponding biome would be the Taiga burn away the upper canopy of the trees and let biome. The global range for taiga goes all around sunlight reach the ground. New plants will grow the world from Alaska, to Canada, Scandinavia, and provide food for animals that once could not Russia and China. Taiga climate is only found in live there because there were only evergreen the northern hemisphere, because there isn't trees. enough land mass in the southern hemisphere to create a taiga climate there. Animals of the taiga tend to be predators like the lynx and members of the weasel family like -Over many years, evergreen species have wolverines, bobcat, minks and ermine. They hunt gained adaptations to improve their chances of herbivores like snowshoe rabbits, red squirrels surviving the taiga. and voles. Red deer, elk, and moose can be found Trees in the temperate deciduous biome drop in regions of the taiga where more deciduous their leaves in the fall. That way they can survive trees grow. a heavy snowstorm without risking their branches. Evergreen trees in the taiga keep their Many insect eating birds come to the taiga to leaves, but their cone shape helps prevent breed. They leave when the breeding season is damage. Branches droop downward, which helps over. Seed eaters like finches and sparrows, and shed excess snow. If the branches held more omnivorous birds like crows stay all year long. snow it would increase the chance of them breaking during a heavy storm. The needles help Climate keep the trees warm during the winter. Taiga is in Köppen's Dfc climate category. The Dis -Taiga trees tend to be conifers. Conifers, many of a snow climate, while the fmeans there is enough which are evergreen, produce cones in late winter precipitation in all months. The cmeans that or early fall. If a cone becomes fertilized, it grows fewer than 4 months have an average bigger. Only then do the seeds inside develop. temperature over 50° F (10° C). Once the seeds ripen, the cone dries up and the seed falls out. The taiga climate is for the most part dominated It can take up to two years to produce a mature by cold arctic air. Exceptionally cold winds bring seed. Squirrels like to feed on these seeds. bitterly cold air from the Arctic Circle: the -Needles on evergreen trees of the taiga are thin temperatures fall even more on clear nights when and wax-covered. They do not fall off in the fall. there is no cloud cover. Because of earth's tilt, Needles are leaves. Most taiga conifers, with the the taiga is turned away from the sun in the exception of the tamarack and a few other winter. Less of the sun's radiation reaches the species, keep their leaves in the winter. Most ground to warm it up. conifers keep their leaves for 2 - 3 years. A spruce can keep its needles for 15 years! Conifers Winter, with it's freezing cold temperatures, lasts lose their leaves a few at a time, so the change is for six to seven months. Summer is a rainy, hot not always noticeable. and short season in the taiga. Fall is the shortest Needles are adapted to the taiga environment. season for taiga. Spring brings flowers, the frozen Needles lose less water and shed snow more ponds melt, and the animals come out from easily than broad leaves. hibernation. -In the temperate deciduous forest most leaves fall off in autumn. In the taiga, the change is The lowest and highest temperatures that occur much more subtle. Leaves slow down the for taiga are the following: chemical process for winter. The tamarack's leaves turn brown and drop. It is Winter's LOWEST temperature in taiga is -65°F. one of only a handful of evergreen species that Winter's HIGHEST temperature is 30° F. drop their leaves for the fall. Summer's LOWEST temperature is 30° F. The leaves of many shrubs turn deep red. Summer's HIGHEST temperature is 70° F. Aspen Trees Birch Trees The temperature range, as you can see, is -65° F Aspen and birch, deciduous trees, have leaves to 70°F (-54 to 21° C). For half of the year, the that turn golden before falling for the winter. average temperature is below freezing. In the All in all, the taiga fall show is less dramatic than winter the average air temperature is warmer the temperate deciduous show. than it is for tundra, which lies north of the taiga. -